The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police on Thursday issued orders to attach around 25 properties belonging to defaulters in the matter related to the settlement crisis at the National Spot Exchange (NSEL).

According to a senior EOW official, the police have identified a total of 100 properties across the country to be attached for recovering investors' money to the tune of nearly R5,600 crore. The attachment process would continue for another 15-20 days, he said.

“We have started the process of attaching the properties of the defaulters. We are simultaneously doing the process of identifying the properties and issuing the attachment orders. We will notify the attachment orders with the MPID (Maharashtra Protection of Investors Deposit) court tomorrow (Friday) and also with the home department,” said Rajvardhan Sinha, additional commissioner of police, EOW.

Once the process of attaching the properties of the defaulters is over, the police will start attaching the properties of promoters, directors and other accused in the case.

In another important development, the probe team has found instances of money being routed overseas while going through the books of accounts of a few defaulting entities. “We found instances of layering in the books of accounts of 2-3 entities, which have a significant exposure in this case,” said Sinha.

He, however, refused to elaborate on specific instances, adding that the Mumbai Police wing has shared this information with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is looking into the aspect of money laundering.

On October 14, the ED registered a formal enforcement case information report under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act, suspecting large-scale money laundering in the matter.

Meanwhile, former NSEL chairman Shankarlal Guru, who was expected to present himself before the EOW for further questioning, did not turn up citing ill health. B D Pawar, who is part of the board of directors of NSEL, is expected to be questioned on Friday.